Have you ever flown into Atlanta from another country? (Homeland: good credit, costs)

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Come to think of it, I actually have no domestic basis of comparison. I've been to other countries and gone through their immigration, but Atlanta is the only airport I've ever used to come back to the U.S.

I don't understand why they couldn't have just kept Concourse F's baggage claim within the secure area. That way, you'd be able to get on the plane train without worrying about going from an unsecure area to secure area. Surely they could work SOMETHING out. I mean, the darn thing already comes to the concourse so people can get to it, how hard is it to figure out a way to allow people to use it to get back?

Last time I arrived in Hartsfield from overseas, some lady steering everybody saw my U.S. passport and was yelling at me to go to a different area, despite the fact that I was walking purposefully and obviously knew what I was doing. I ignored her, but she kept yelling at me, and I finally responded, "I have global entry!" and she backed off because I was going the right way for that. I mean, is it really THAT rare for someone to have global entry?

I'm not taking positions, but I can explain this.

The baggage claim in customs is in the international arrivals sterile area, but before the domestic secured side.

There are two separate issues to overcome to do away with the security screening.


1) Customs is handled at arrival into the US, not the final destination within the US. They want people to pick up their luggage and be seen with it as a part of the screening process. This gives them some lee-way in looking for odd travelers (ie. excessive amounts of luggage; odd type/size of luggage given their entry interview with CBP).

The issue is once a traveler has access to this luggage, they need to be re-screened, because the checked luggage can contain items not allowed in carry-ons. It is also common many travelers with Duty Free Liqour need to pack their duty-free items before re-checking luggage. The US doesn't allow the EU sealed Duty-free bags through security.


2) The US would have to accept the origin country's security standards as adequate enough to not re-screen at entry into the US. This actually can get fairly complicated very quickly. Not only are security standards different, the issue is also what connections and the quality of security standards are found at the origin of the original flight. It is the weakest link that is important.

Say the flight is from Athens Greece and the US decides to trust the security found at the Athens airport, the US would still have to do a full review of what passengers can connect through Athens without going through security in Athens and the quality of that security.

I highlight this on purpose. There is a wide variation of security standards found at small island airports across Greece. Some of Greece's domestic connections require re-security check in Athens and some don't. Even out of the ones that don't, there seems to be some variation.

Now we are not alone in this. In most EU hubs I go through, I go through security between passport control and the EU-domestic flight I connect to.

In fact if you connect through De Gaulle my record so far is 3 separate screenings, if I follow the signs to my connecting flight. It is just 1 or 2 times. It is an airport that badly needs to be overhauled, but that is a whole different story.




One more item to the original post... that I have noticed. When they first started the automated entry kiosks it was limited to US citizens and permanent residents. They now allow Canadians and ESTA visa waiver repeat visitors (ESTA first time visitors have to go through the foreign screening line).


This latter point it critical. I've noticed the foreign screening line has shrunk in size, while the US citizen/Permanent resident/ESTA line has gotten larger and larger. They haven't re-positioned more agents to handle more people going through that line, but to go further... I have also noticed a distinct increase in the number of individuals getting held up with the CBP agent and I often think it is the ESTA repeat visitors. They sometimes need more documentation, need to prove flights out of country, etc.. Items that permanent residents and citizens don't need.


If these groups were separated out better (or the automated kiosks flagged their print out with an X more efficiently), I think the wait time for the majorities would decrease.

[atler8]

A couple of years ago I wrote in a similarly-themed thread that 2 of my Brit friends flew into the new international terminal @ Hartsfield-Jackson from Heathrow. They mentioned several examples to us of what they found less than satisfactory about the terminal user friendliness, it's lack of easy access to the MARTA rail line as well as the U.S. Customs experience there. I took their words to heart given that they are highly seasoned travelers who go abroad from the UK in & out of numerous international airports anywhere from 5-10 times per year.
My own last international arrival into HJA was 2 weeks prior to the 2012 opening of the new international terminal so I can't speak personally to an episode of my own there. However, I do recall that in that last visit to the old set up, a woman with U.S. Customs screamed at the top of her lungs at the horde of arriving passengers who were queued up in front of the large platform on which she stood.
As a reaction to her, everyone was either looking bewildered or rolling their eyes & I was embarrassed both for her as well as for my home city. It was easily the most unfriendly & repulsive thing that has ever happened to me in any airport customs arrival zone or in any airport situation period.

[hilltop180]

The only thing I have found really terrible is the distance you have to walk to get to customs. It seems like it is almost one mile. I have flown internationally quite a bit and found coming back into Atlanta versus going to other countries is pretty comparable. I don't think it's every really a pleasant experience. I did find the customs people in London to be pretty friendly in comparison to other countries.

[markjames68]

I prefer ATL over MIA or JFK.

[AnsleyPark]

Frigging Charles de Gaulle takes the prize for worst. The French are horrible civil engineers!

[ATLTJL]

Frigging Charles de Gaulle takes the prize for worst. The French are horrible civil engineers!

I still have nightmares about Terminal 2E.

All I can see are Asian tourists clogging up the thoroughfare because they are waiting in an enormous line to get their Value Added Tax refunded.

But I still think they are better at immigration than we are. At least nobody yelled at me while I was lining up. And you can get to the TGV and RER without having to take a shuttle bus.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

But I still think they are better at immigration than we are. At least nobody yelled at me while I was lining up. And you can get to the TGV and RER without having to take a shuttle bus.

That varies....


CDG has some arrivals where the connection to the train station is similar to people landing at our T-Gates, if not all of our domestic arrivals.


However, they suffer from widespread problems of adding small terminal additions over time, confusing walkways, confusing signage, and an awkward network of airside and land side shuttles to get people around. There problem is worse than ours. It just depends where you land and/or connect.





Now this actually looks more simple than it actually is. It fails to show the various convoluted pathways and signage inside the terminals.





On a good note.... They are buying new buses for the Domestic-International shuttle. Should be able to handle peak loads better and be a little more comfortable.

[PKCorey]

Yeah, most of the Customs agents in the US seem to be asses vs. Mexico and the EU. I dread every time I return and I have to deal with them. Just rough and abrasive and very rarely welcoming at all or welcome you back home either.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Frigging Charles de Gaulle takes the prize for worst. The French are horrible civil engineers!

Around 15 years back I nearly missed getting hit by a roof slab at CDG. Enough said.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I still have nightmares about Terminal 2E.

All I can see are Asian tourists clogging up the thoroughfare because they are waiting in an enormous line to get their Value Added Tax refunded.

But I still think they are better at immigration than we are. At least nobody yelled at me while I was lining up. And you can get to the TGV and RER without having to take a shuttle bus.

They’re everywhere. Nothing like being in a line at SYD for a GST refund and everyone else is Chinese. On their cell phones (prohibited), farting, burping and trying to cut ahead of me.